Phoebe Gates, the daughter of billionaire businessman Bill Gates, is facing allegations of fraudulent activity involving her e-commerce shopping platform, Phia.
A report by Bloomberg revealed that the app, co-founded by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, allegedly used a practice known as “cookie stuffing” to claim commissions on retail sales it did not generate.
Phia operates as a price-comparison platform and browser extension designed to help online shoppers find discount codes during checkout, earning affiliate commissions from retailers when purchases are completed through the app.
Internal company messages cited in the report suggest that the extension was setting web-tracking files to fraudulently claim credit for sales even when shoppers did not use the app. According to internal data, the practice allegedly accounted for an estimated 51 percent of the sales credited to the app in June 2026.
Although company representatives previously stated in July that management only recently became aware of the tracking errors and moved to fix them, leaked internal communications indicate that founders were aware of the issue months prior.
Responding to the allegations, a spokesperson for Phia stated that all features causing sales misattributions were permanently disabled in July. The company added that it is issuing refunds to affected brand partners and taking steps to appoint a compliance officer to prevent future occurrences.
